What are the characteristics of barbed skullcap (Scutellaria barbata)? A complete guide to this plant
Barbed skullcap is also called sun flower, large-flowered purslane, and foreign purslane, among other names. It is an annual or perennial succulent herbaceous plant. Let us now take a look at the characteristics of barbed skullcap.
Barbed skullcap plants grow 15-20 cm tall. The stems are slender and round, and the stems and leaves are succulent, lying flat or slanting upward, with tufts of hair at the nodes. The leaves are scattered or slightly clustered, cylindrical, 1-2.5 cm long. The flowers are terminal, 2.5-5.5 cm in diameter, with leaf-like bracts at the base; the petals are brightly colored, in colors such as white, yellow, red, and purple. The capsule splits open by a lid when mature, and the seeds are small and delicate, silvery gray. There are many horticultural varieties, divided into single-petaled, semi-double, and double forms.
Barbed skullcap is an annual or biennial herbaceous flower. The lower part of the stem creeps and roots, while the upper part is upright; the stem is square and green. The leaves are opposite, with triangular-ovate or ovate blades, and the edges have wavy blunt teeth; the lower leaves are larger, and the petioles are very short. The flowers are small, in pairs opposite each other, arranged in one-sided racemes, terminal; the pedicels are covered with sticky short hairs; the bracts are leaf-like, gradually becoming smaller upward, and are hairy. The calyx is bell-shaped, with short soft hairs on the outside, two-lipped, and the upper lip has a scutellum. The corolla is lipped, blue-purple, densely covered with soft hairs on the outside; there are 4 stamens, didynamous; the ovary is 4-lobed, and the stigma is attached entirely at the base of the ovary, with a 2-lobed tip. The nutlets are ovate, brown. The flowering period is May-June, and the fruiting period is June-August.
The main differences between Chinese lobelia and barbed skullcap
1. Chinese lobelia: its function is to promote diuresis and reduce swelling. It is often used for abdominal edema and swelling of the face and feet. It also has the effect of clearing heat and detoxifying, and can be used to treat boils, unnamed toxic swellings, and snake and insect bites. There is a folk saying, "If you have Chinese lobelia at home, you can sleep with snakes." It has a good detoxifying effect on snake bites. It can also be used to treat stomach cancer, rectal cancer, and so on.
2. Barbed skullcap: its function is to clear heat and detoxify, used for severe heat toxin, snake bites, sores and swellings, swelling and pain, back pain, and sore throat, among others, and also for cancer swellings. It also has the effect of resolving stasis and promoting diuresis. It is used to treat traumatic injuries, red dysentery, bloody strangury, difficult urination due to damp-heat, and ascites due to cirrhosis.
The specific effects of barbed skullcap
[Source] The dried or fresh whole plant of barbed skullcap, a plant in the Lamiaceae family.
[Nature, flavor, and meridian entry] Pungent, bitter, cold. Enters the lung, liver, and kidney meridians.
[Property and characteristics] This product is pungent and can move and disperse, and bitter and cold to clear and drain, entering the lung, liver, and kidney meridians. It both clears and resolves heat toxin and snake venom, and disperses stasis and cools the blood to stop bleeding; it also clears heat and promotes diuresis to free strangury and reduce swelling, and is especially good at treating venomous snake bites, sores and swellings, and cancer swellings.
[Efficacy] Clears heat and detoxifies, disperses stasis and stops bleeding, promotes diuresis and reduces swelling.
[Indications]
(1) Sores, abscesses, and toxic swellings, venomous snake bites, cancer swellings.
(2) Traumatic injuries, vomiting of blood and nosebleeds.
(3) Abdominal edema, painful bloody strangury.
[Usage and dosage] Internal use: decocted in water, 15-30 g of dried product, 30-60 g of fresh product. External use: appropriate amount, pounded and applied.
[Cautions for use] This product is cold in nature and disperses blood stasis, so pregnant women and those with deficiency-cold of the spleen and stomach should take it with caution.
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